Despite the scandal, Cong Vinh still pockets billions of dong!

In less than a month, Le Cong Vinh has repeatedly stirred up public controversy with behind-the-scenes scandals. But so what? He still pockets money steadily!

Under the new national team coach Nguyen Huu Thang, Cong Vinh was given the captain's armband. Not letting his "senior" down, CV9 made his mark with a hat-trick in a friendly match against Than Quang Ninh, which Vietnam won 4-0. Following that, in the official match against Taiwan (China), Cong Vinh also scored a brace in a convincing 4-1 victory. With these contributions at the age of 31, Cong Vinh deserved praise. Sadly…

A series of behind-the-scenes controversies have severely damaged Cong Vinh's image. First, there were his harsh comments about his teammate Anh Duc in the media (Cong Vinh recently denied this and asked the press to find the audio recordings to see if he mentioned "Anh Duc" at any point). Next was his very rough elbowing of an Iraqi player during Vietnam's 0-1 loss. And most recently, there was the story of him not immediately returning to Binh Duong but instead going to Thailand to film a commercial.

Having moved from SLNA to Hanoi T&T, then to Hanoi, back to SLNA, and currently playing for Binh Duong, Cong Vinh has earned approximately 30 billion VND. Photo: IT

The complexities of Vinh's "commercial filming" story are only known to him and the leadership of the Binh Duong football team. One thing is clear: if Vinh doesn't film the commercial as per the contract, he will face financial trouble. Specifically, he will have to pay compensation of up to 2.5 billion VND. With such a large compensation amount, even if the Binh Duong leadership is unsympathetic and refuses to let Vinh take leave, he will still have to... take leave! Especially, as Vinh himself confirmed in a newspaper interview, his employment contract with any club includes a clause allowing him to request at least 7 days of leave per year for important personal matters!

With someone as experienced as Vinh, it's difficult for any team to make things difficult for him legally! If Binh Duong wants to "lock up" Cong Vinh for some reason, they should reconsider what Cong Vinh has experienced with the wealthy businessmen and experienced club owners in the past!

At the end of the 2008 V.League season, when everyone believed Cong Vinh would leave his hometown team SLNA to join The Cong, he unexpectedly changed his mind and joined Hanoi T&T. Vinh's three-year contract with the capital city team, worth over 7 billion VND at the time, was an unbelievable figure!

After three seasons of loyalty to Chairman Hien, at the end of the 2011 V.League season, everyone was once again certain that Vinh would renew his contract with Hanoi T&T. After all, Vinh had publicly expressed his almost absolute love for Hanoi T&T. There were also touching stories of Hanoi T&T always being by his side during his injury, when it seemed impossible to regain his peak form. Yet, a surprising turn of events occurred when Cong Vinh showed more affection for Chairman Kien than Chairman Hien. Just as Hanoi T&T was preparing a press conference for Cong Vinh's contract renewal, on October 10, 2011, he decided to join Hanoi with a three-year contract worth a "huge" sum, reportedly around 13 billion VND.

Cong Vinh's repeated "betrayals" put him in a difficult position after Chairman Kien was imprisoned and Hanoi FC disbanded after the 2012 V.League season ended. Furthermore, Vinh's performance at the 2012 AFF Cup was extremely poor, with the Vietnamese national team under coach Phan Thanh Hung being eliminated after the group stage. But if anyone thought CV9 would be unemployed, they were wrong! Before the 2013 V.League season, he joined SLNA with a two-year contract worth an estimated 2 billion VND. Speaking about the decision to extend a hand to Cong Vinh, Mr. Nguyen Hong Thanh – then General Director of SLNA Football Joint Stock Company – laughed and said: "After all, hometown is still the sweet starfruit tree!"

After two years with SLNA, including a loan spell at Consadole Sapporo in J.League 2, CV9's value skyrocketed upon his return to Vietnam. This was especially true after his impressive performance at the 2014 AFF Cup under coach Miura. Before the start of the 2015 V.League season, Vinh moved to Binh Duong on a three-year contract worth approximately 8 billion VND. Despite the technical director, who was essentially coach Le Thuy Hai, openly expressing his disapproval, Vinh remained, and the one who had to leave was... Coach Hai himself.

So, in just six years, from the time Vinh signed with Hanoi T&T until he signed with Binh Duong, he pocketed around 30 billion VND in transfer fees. Of course, Vinh still has to serve Binh Duong until the end of the 2017 season. But with the developments over the past period, it's not impossible that in V.League 2017, or even sooner, in the second half of V.League 2016, Vinh will be wearing the jersey of another team that is very willing to spend money! Here, once again, Vinh is "holding the upper hand"! The more frustrated Binh Duong's management becomes with him, the more Vinh might be secretly delighted (?!).

According to Dan Viet